Right-wing pundit Megyn Kelly, who has been an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump, recently acknowledged that she has overlooked some of Trump’s “darker demons” for years. But experts in public humanities and American studies emphasize that the qualities Kelly said she has chosen to overlook were quite a lot to ignore.

During an episode of her podcast “The Megyn Kelly Show” that premiered on Wednesday, comedian Russell Brand asked Kelly why she thinks people still “love” Trump despite the recent waves of public criticism he’s received from prominent figures from his own base — including Kelly.

Kelly cited Trump’s “charming” sense of humor as an appealing attribute before she dove into typical right-wing culture-war talking points.

“He stood up against the race dogma, the trans dogma, the xenophobe dogma about having a southern border in a way that was very admirable — and we needed desperately because we were losing those wars,” she said. “You know, the woke thing was taking over in every department with our children, with our lives and our employment.”

“Trump was the bulwark against it, saying ‘Hell no,’” she added.

Kelly, however, then acknowledged that there are aspects about Trump’s “personality which are obviously not good and that we’ve mostly chosen to overlook.”

“You know, he’s not a moral man. He’s obviously not the greatest husband in the world. He’s extremely petty and thin-skinned,” she said.

“But there’s still, in my view, a lot to like about Trump,” she later added. “It’s just some of those darker demons are much more in the front view right now because he’s like a cornered animal.”

However, experts point out that MAGA supporters choosing to ignore Trump’s “darker demons” sheds light on a concerning problem that should not be overlooked: They exercised “unscrupulous willful blindness,” said Deepak Sarma, inaugural distinguished scholar in the public humanities at Case Western Reserve University

“Trump’s flaws were evident from the outset, and their support reflects a pattern of unscrupulous willful blindness,” Sarma told HuffPost. “They bear responsibility for his rise and now appear eager to disavow their role in enabling, legitimizing, and normalizing behavior they once defended or ignored.”

“Their endorsement not only consolidated MAGA support but also reassured fence-sitters, particularly those within Christian communities who had reservations about his ethical conduct,” they continued.

Sarma later emphasized that it’s “unacceptable to normalize a president whose conduct consistently falls below democratic expectations.”

“Leaders in a democratic system are obliged, at minimum, to engage constituencies beyond their base and to govern through negotiation rather than grievance,” they said. “Compromise is not weakness; it is the condition of democratic governance.”

We’re now seeing a leadership style “marked by pettiness, volatility, and an inability to tolerate dissent,” Sarma said about Trump’s presidency, adding that Trump’s “erratic public behavior” raises questions about his judgment and stability.

“Kelly and other MAGA figures, in aligning themselves with Trump, have had to set aside principles they once claimed to defend,” they added.

“For more than a decade, millions of Americans have been mystified and appalled by the ways our relatives, friends, neighbors and fellow citizens have been enthralled by a conman with a lifelong history of lies, fraud, misogyny, racism, and narcissism,” said Kari J. Winter, a professor of American studies at the University at Buffalo whose expertise includes gender, feminism, race and class.

“He has bragged repeatedly that fame and fortune entitle him to do whatever he wants,” Winter told HuffPost. “His behavior is antithetical to the spirit and letter of Christianity and indeed all the major world religions, yet his most avid supporters have claimed that he is on the side of God.”

Kelly has joined the chorus of other prominent MAGA supporters, like Tucker Carlson, to publicly condemn Trump’s U.S.-Israeli war in Iran — much to the dismay of the president.

Earlier this week, Carlson confessed that he and other prominent voices on the right are “implicated” in the role they played in getting Trump elected.

“I do think it’s, like, a moment to wrestle with our own consciences. We’ll be tormented by it for a long time — I will be,” he said. “And I want to say I’m sorry for misleading people.”

Trump had slammed Tucker and Kelly in a post on his Truth Social platform earlier this month over their criticism of the war in Iran.

Kelly said on her podcast this week that Trump was “turning on his most loyal supporters because they don’t support this war.”

“Kelly and other MAGA stalwarts are beginning to concede that the ’emperor is naked,’” Sarma said.

“This admission can be read in one of two ways: either they failed to recognize what was long obvious ― unlikely ― or they believe Trump has served his purpose and can now be discarded, having already advanced key elements of the MAGA agenda, namely opposition to ‘wokeness,’ restrictive approaches to gender language, and a more nativist posture, as well as concrete outcomes such as a reshaped Supreme Court and the overturning of Roe v. Wade ― more plausible,” they continued.

Sarma said they believe it’s ironic that MAGA-aligned outlets like Fox News routinely dismissed mainstream media as “fake news,” while “themselves engaging in sustained misrepresentation and gaslighting, downplaying Trump’s cognitive lapses, moral failings, and pattern of dishonesty.”

“That support was not merely partisan; it was reckless,” they said. “Some figures, most notably Tucker Carlson, now seem to be reckoning, however belatedly, with the consequences.”

Sarma said that it’s unclear whether the change in tone toward Trump by figures like Kelly and Carlson reflects a strategy, a principled reconsideration, or an attempt to preserve their reputations.

“Either way, their shift suggests a recognition that continued association carries growing political and personal risk,” they said.

“Critics of Trump and MAGA should take note of these developments, not uncritically, since they are often calculated and marked by hypocrisy, but not dismissively either,” they later added. “There is something significant about a movement beginning to fracture from within.”

Winter said that many people who have opposed Trump are longing for “stories of transformation and regret.”

“After witnessing this administration ‘flood the zone’ with endless assaults on the people, ethics, and institutions that are essential to our long, productive American experiment in democracy, many of us believe that our only hope of overcoming authoritarianism and revitalizing democracy is for our fellow citizens to wake up,” she said, before adding, “We want desperately to believe that the people duped by Trump are capable of being persuaded by evidence and returning to reason.”

But Winter said that figures like Kelly and Carlson understand very well the appeal of these conversion narratives.

“Like Trump, they are cynical manipulators of rhetoric who are constantly on the lookout for number one,” she said. “Unlike Trump, they are aware that Trump’s power is waning and that he won’t in fact live to the age of 200.”

Winter thinks Kelly and Carlson’s track records suggest that they are preparing for their futures in a post-Trump world. Not to mention, Kelly’s remarks about Trump during her podcast episode weren’t exactly all negative, Winter pointed out.

“Kelly’s sparse words of criticism tossed into mountains of sycophantic praise strike me as just another tool to grab attention,” she said, adding that altogether, “she is delivering more of the same unhinged hate that defines her brand.”

Winter said that Tucker’s expressions of regret “have greater persuasive power” because they were more strongly worded and because Tucker “has a history of expressing hatred for Trump.”

“All we know for sure from his track record, however, is that Tucker Carlson adopts whatever rhetorical postures he believes will increase the notoriety and fortunes of Tucker Carlson,” she said.

“Both influencers are toxins in the American body politic who need to be held accountable for the harm they have done to our nation and the world,” she continued. “Much as we long for our fellow citizens to see the light, we cannot expect the likes of them to illuminate a path out of this American midnight.”

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